Life Calls Us On
Rev. Tim Temerson
UU Church of Akron
September 16, 2012
What a soup of ministry we are making here at the UU Church of
Akron! I hope all of you will join us after the service for the Ministries Fair in
the Fellowship Hall. The Ministries Fair is a celebration of all that we do
together here at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Akron – all that we do
to live the values that are at the heart of Unitarian Universalism – love,
compassion, acceptance of one another, justice, and a deep and abiding
respect for the dignity and worth of every human being. We celebrate the
open mind and the loving heart. And as you think you will see at the
Ministries Fair, we strive to live those values both within and beyond our
walls through deeds of love and compassion for one another and for the
world. I hope you will join us at the Fair. It might just change your life,
transform this congregation, and make a difference, a real difference in the
world.
I must say that I love this idea of ministry as a warm and nourishing
soup that we create together. Too often, I think we associate the word
ministry exclusively with ministers like me. But ministry is so much more
than simply what the minister says or does; ministry is, as our emeritus
minister Gordon McKeeman famously put it, “all that we do together” in
religious community. When you greet a first-time visitor to our church and
help them feel welcome, that’s ministry. When you offer a word of
sympathy or sign a card of support for someone who is struggling, that’s
ministry. When you help with coffee hour, work in our community garden,
teach a child or youth in our Sunday school, participate in one of our
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wonderful social action or environmental programs, sing in the choir, lead a
worship service – when you bring your gifts and your passion into the life
and the work of this congregation – that’s ministry.
And I think what makes all that we do together at the Unitarian
Universalist Church of Akron ministry is the deep place within each and
every one of us from which it comes. You see, although we often associate
ministry with doing things (giving a sermon, teaching in the Sunday School,
and so on) first and foremost ministry is about listening – listening to a
voice, a yearning, a passion, an inspiration that is deep within ourselves and
deep within this church community – a voice that is calling us to lead lives of
meaning and purpose and to be part of something beautiful and greater than
ourselves. More than anything else, I think ministry is about being called –
called to serve, to grow, to share, and to love.
When I decided to become a Unitarian Universalist minister, the one
question everyone wanted to ask was “So Tim, tell me about your calling,
you’re A Ha moment, that instant, that flash of light or voice from beyond
when it all became clear.”
I remember how much I struggled not only with that question but also
with the idea of being called. I didn’t have a single A Ha moment when the
heavens opened and a deep voice called down to tell me I should be a UU
minister. And I was even more puzzled by the idea of being called? I mean,
if one is called, exactly who or what is doing the calling?
In thinking about what it means to be called, I have been helped
immeasurably by the ideas of Parker Palmer. Palmer argues that being called
is at the heart of what it means to be human. Each and every one of us is
called by what Palmer terms our “inner teacher.” And the roots of that voice,
that inner teacher, are found in what Palmer sees as the basic human need
for wholeness and unity – for living undivided lives – lives that reflect the
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essence of who we are and what we hope for ourselves and the world. As
Palmer so beautifully puts it, people hunger to lead lives in which soul and
role, spirit and vocation, are in harmony, not conflict, with one another.
But how does one discover one’s calling, one’s vocation in life.
According to Palmer, a calling is a voice that is speaking to us through our
lives, our experiences, our hopes and our dreams. A calling is not a goal we
can set as if we can wake up one morning and decide, “ok today I’m going
to decide what my calling is.” Rather, a calling is a yearning, a passion, an
inspiration that grabs hold of us and somehow leads us where we are meant
to go.
And once we find our calling and begin to lead lives that are undivided
and whole, amazing things begin to happen. For one, we experience a sense
of purpose and aliveness, and what I can only describe as a rising tide of joy
– a joy that comes from leading lives that are whole and undivided – a joy
that one writer has called, “deep gladness.”
And when we listen for and then begin to live our calling and our
minstry, amazing things also begin to happen in the world and in the lives of
those we touch. Our yearning for unity and wholeness becomes a powerful
and creative force for unity and wholeness in the world. Our calling, our
ministry, our yearning for wholeness finds its way to the world’s deepest
needs. That’s why I am especially drawn to the rest of Frederic Buechner’s
definition of ministry. Ministry, according to Buechner, “is that place where
our deep gladness meets the world’s deep need.” Ministry is that place
where our deep gladness meets the world’s deep need.
And that joining together of deep gladness with deep need, of soul and
role, is precisely where religious communities like the Unitarian Universalist
Church of Akron have such a vital and life-changing purpose. While you or I
can certainly try to live our calling and our ministry alone, just imagine what
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we can do and how we will be enriched if we bring our individual ministries
into a single, warm, nourishing soup? One person living their calling, living
their ministry, is a blessing. But a community of love and compassion
ministering together can truly change lives and transform the world!
So the question I leave you with today is this. What is your life, your
yearning, your inner teacher calling you to do? Where does your deep
gladness meet the world’s deep needs? It is my hope that you will bring your
deep gladness and your sacred calling into the soup, into the ministry of this
congregation. There are so many wonderful ways we can serve together,
grow together, laugh together, experience deep gladness together, and
bring our individual ministries together into the shared ministry of the
Unitarian Universalist Church of Akron – a ministry calling us to be a
community of welcome, a community of spiritual depth, a community
working boldy for justice and peace, a community that journeys alongside us
through the joys and sorrows of life - a community that is, above all else,
listening for and seeking to follow where the unimagined possibilities of life
are always, always calling us.
Thank you for listening and blessed be.
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